Thursday, May 28, 2015

Prime Minister John Key has confirmed there is no chance key parts of the RMA reform will go ahead, while reaffirming the need to speed up the construction of new houses in Auckland.

Speaking at a Property Council industry breakfast in Auckland on Thursday, Key said the probability of there being a change in sections six and seven of the Resource Management Act "is zero".

Good. Because contrary to the article, tinkering with these sections - which define matters of national importance and other core values the legislation is supposed to promote and protect - was never about making it easier to build houses. Instead, it was about making it easier to dig mines, cut-down forests, and basically ignore the environment, by removing environmental values and adding a development cause to over-ride the others. That extreme agenda was rejected last year by National's coalition partners; it had been revivied following the election because National had an easy majority with ACT for environmental vandalism, but now that they've lost the Northland by-election, that majority no longer exists. So National will have to do what it hates: seek consensus with the other parties, rather than just imposing an agenda to benefit their donors and cronies.